Author: Helen Partz, CoinTelegraph
Compiled by: Five Zhu, Golden Finance
Bitcoin is the largest cryptocurrency by market capitalization, having experienced its first halving event 12 years ago, reducing the block reward from 50 BTC to 25 BTC.
Since then, the Bitcoin block reward - the incentive for crypto miners to verify Bitcoin transactions and protect the network - has been reduced to 3.125 BTC after three halving events, greatly limiting the supply of newly mined BTC entering the market.
On the occasion of Bitcoin's 12th anniversary halving, Bitcoin's trading price approached the historical peak of around $99,600 set on November 22, partly due to Bitcoin's fourth halving event in April.
Bitcoin halving dates and block rewards. Source: BitDegree
As the community celebrates the anniversary of the first Bitcoin halving, this article revisits some key historical milestones of BTC and changes in the mining ecosystem.
There are still 1.2 million Bitcoins left to mine.
As of November 27, the circulating supply of BTC is 19.8 million coins, with 1.2 million left to be mined until the capped supply of 21 million is reached.
The supply cap for Bitcoin is 21 million, which is one of the fundamental principles of the Bitcoin network aimed at providing asset scarcity.
Total circulating supply of Bitcoin. Source: Blockchain.com
Although the number of 1.2 million BTC is small relative to the amount of Bitcoin already mined, the mining process for the remaining BTC will require miners to spend more time and effort due to the reduction in rewards and the increase in mining difficulty.
According to MinerStat, the current Bitcoin mining difficulty rate is 1.023 trillion, having first surpassed the 1 trillion mark on November 5. The next Bitcoin difficulty adjustment is expected to take place on December 2.
Bitcoin miners have not yet surrendered; Bitcoin has set new price records.
Despite the challenges posed by high Bitcoin mining difficulty and low block rewards, Bitcoin miners have not yet surrendered due to the continued rise of the cryptocurrency market.
According to CoinGecko data, as of the time of writing, the Bitcoin trading price is $95,364, up 154% over the past year. Since Bitcoin's most recent halving event on April 20, 2024, the price of this cryptocurrency has also surged significantly, increasing in value by approximately 45%.
According to a report by European cryptocurrency investment firm CoinShares, despite the rise of Bitcoin in 2024 leading to an increase in block rewards denominated in dollars, Bitcoin miners have been taking measures to reduce costs and adopt artificial intelligence.
CoinShares stated in an October mining report: 'The Bitcoin mining industry is facing significant challenges this year, with both revenue and hash prices declining.'
In July, when the BTC trading price was around $56,500, Bitcoin mining company TeraWulf considered merging due to low profit margins.
Major cryptocurrency mining companies such as Marathon Digital sold a large amount of mined BTC this year following the fourth halving, citing reasons to improve efficiency and remain competitive. Marathon also shifted to actively buying Bitcoin and announced the issuance of $250 million in convertible preferred notes in August.
On the other hand, El Salvador has intensified efforts to find alternative Bitcoin mining methods utilizing geothermal volcanic energy.
